This morning we arrived in Cádiz, Spain, and which is pronounced KAH-deez . We woke up as the pilot boat was leading us into port. Many of the students and faculty were there with us at 7:00am as we watched the sunrise over Cádiz.

One of the students had a sign that said "Thank you Mom for showing me the WORLD." She was taking a picture with the sign and I think she plans to do that in each port. We thought that was so neat: to see a student really being grateful for this unique experience.

Our first order of business was a Cádiz city orientation. Nancy was the trip leader which means she checks you on and off of the bus and then she attends the trip for FREE (we love that). We made our way all the way around the city by bus and then went into the city for a walking portion of the tour. We saw the markets, beautiful narrow cobblestone streets, The New Cathedral, Plaza de Espana, a fine arts museum and the town hall. You will have to look at the pictures we post to get a sense of how beautiful this city is.

We found out that Cádiz is 3,000 years old, which makes it one of the oldest cities in Europe. There are city walls that surround the Old City that were built in the 16th century. We also saw the ruins of a Roman theatre built in the 1st century BC. I think we are going jogging tomorrow so we will jog there and get some pictures. The population here is about 132,000 people and the main industry is shipping/fishing - anything to do with the shipyards.

After we take a "siesta" we are going to go find something to eat. Dinner doesn't start being served until around 9:30pm, which is late for us, but we will try anything once!

Fun Facts:

-it is in the mid 90's here....pretty hot

-tapas are "small bites" of food to share

-the attire for weddings is very formal, long dresses with beautiful structured hats pinned on the side of the ladies heads. The men wear really nice suits